Breaking out of a slump - do something or just wait it out?

[David_Manning]

Hi Steve,

I think you've discovered the secret...photograph your life, your day, the things around you...your commute, the guy who sells you a newspaper, your lunchtime people-watching. Let photography be a witness to your life...

Also, it's the absolute PERFECT time to edit. Re-visit previous work (like the images you've shown us here). It's a perfect time to create a book of your personal work. Don't rush it, edit edit edit and put it together. It's a great winter project, and recharges the batteries.

On the topic of gear...you've also answered that question...leave the drawer alone, take the RX100, and shoot your life. After all, that's what is important to your audience.

Oh, and print some of your images. Those five you put in your own post...make 5 8x10s and frame them nicely, and hang them in your hallway. Passing them each day will stir your desire.

---David.

 

[zauhar]

I am likewise in a depressed period, mainly because I am following a self-imposed edict to not produce more images than I can deal with, and I have been swamped with 'regular' work. I have ten+ rolls of film to process, five sheets of negative I wanted to scan, and one negative still sitting in the enlarger

Couple things that stand out to me, and apparently you see them too:

1) Why are you a 'travel photographer'? Call yourself a 'street photographer' and you are poised to be engaged at any time and place. Your outstanding images above are not 'travel' shots.

2) 'Get a move on!' - Although you seem to be doing well despite family pressure, I too suffer with this. I had some bad experiences getting separated from family members while on trips. You need to carve out time when someone is not shouting at you to stop doing the thing you love.

Randy

 

[Godfrey]

I'm very busy with my career work as a technical writer these days.
I feel like I haven't produced much photographically in the past year and a half.
BUT ...

I think about my photography and visual ideas every day. When I don't have any ideas, I read interesting stories or enjoy photo books to keep my brain cells active outside of work demands. I carry a camera, at least the iPhone 4S, all the time and snap a few photos nearly every day. Sometimes it's just drek, other times I find a theme emerges and I push further on it. Sometimes I go out for a session, make what I think are a bunch of really great images, come home and find nothing but dullness there. I wait. Weeks later, I 'discover' the photos and something new emerges from them, sometimes. Other times they remain drek.

Even professional, full time artists and photographers have their lulls and quiet periods. How do they get through them? They keep on working at it, whether by exercising their art or by letting it simmer in their brains. That's all.

Always onwards.

G

 

[Exdsc]

😀😀😀

I hadn't even noticed that common theme.

I don't consciously not work in colour, my favourite shots just always seem to end up in black and white. Very fair point though!

Buy a Nokia Pureview 808, the best camera phone out there, and photograph everything, even at work, during commute and all in color.

Next thing you know, you won't have time to process all those files.

 

[Godfrey]

Thanks to everyone for the feedback so far. Mdarnton - your quote above sort of sums up where I am with this - and much more briefly than my original post 😛

I'm just not sure I have anything much to say at the moment. I can produce technically competent, well composed pictures most of the time, I have a pretty good eye, I get my pictures mentioned in the RFF pics of the week thread quite often (does it get any better than that 😀?), but it's not as if the world is going to stop spinning if i never pick up a camera again. Do I have anything to share with the world so significant that the world will be a worse place, or me a less fulfilled person, without me sharing it? I very much doubt it.

Johan/Buzzardkid yes, I'm that age as well, and I think I have a similar issue about not being able to focus on more than one thing at any time beyond work and family - perhaps I've just run out of bandwidth. I think there's also that element of realising that, at my kind of age and with three kids and a mortgage I'm not suddenly going to give it all up and become a travel photographer. Part of growing older is accepting that your range of choices diminishes and you've probably shut some doors.

Brett, just did what you suggested in going over some of my favourite recent shots and the results are illuminating actually:

Shot 1 - the one Richard was referring to - taken right next to my office with my RX100, largely happenstance in the weather but (I guess) some skill in pulling all together:

Shot 2 - got up from my computer table after a long night at the PC and a couple of large whisikies (= creativity unlocked?), suddenly saw this, RX100 again:

Shot 3 - HTC one mobile phone, just playing around on the way between meetings, saw the guy with the long coats and reacted instinctively:

Shot 4 - my daughter in a hothouse, saw the shot and made her stop while I clicked, rest of the family shouting at me to get a move on. X-Pro 1:

Shot 5: taking the kids to London at school half term, bored kids telling me to get a move on (do you see a theme here!), saw this and worked the subject for a couple of minutes until I got the shot that worked. RX100 again:

So of five photos on RFF that are most "me" (and incidentally the most popular in terms of comments etc.), NONE of them were taken on an actual photo trip, they were all things that popped up when I was busy living my life. And three were taken with a point and shoot and one with a camera phone.

Have been pondering as I write the above para and I think there's an answer floating around somewhere if I can just grab it 😉.

This is a very strong set of images. Be proud of them, think about them. Really nice stuff!

G

 

[Steveh]

Couple things that stand out to me, and apparently you see them too:

1) Why are you a 'travel photographer'? Call yourself a 'street photographer' and you are poised to be engaged at any time and place. Your outstanding images above are not 'travel' shots.

2) 'Get a move on!' - Although you seem to be doing well despite family pressure, I too suffer with this. I had some bad experiences getting separated from family members while on trips. You need to carve out time when someone is not shouting at you to stop doing the thing you love.

Randy

Thanks Randy - to answer those in order:

(1) that was just an example - what I really meant was that until you get to a certain age/life stage there's a space in your head where you can tell yourself that you're going to run away and join the circus/run a beach bar/travel the world and take photos etc. Who knows, in ten years' time I might end up being a travel photographer when I don't have a day job any more, but I have no pretentions of being one now, and I'm no longer kidding myself that a career change like that is on the cards. On (2) I think what I've been worrying about (too much) was precisely that I should be making an effort to carve out space to "work" on my photography, go off on my own and work on projects etc., but a little RFF assisted navel gazing suggests that may actually be counterproductive.

Godfrey, thanks for the kind words - the problem for me is that I just became completely burnt out from even looking at other people's images, reading photo books etc. - the whole lot.

I think David may have the answer - lock the photo drawer for 6 months, take the RX100 wherever I go, and just let things happen (or not) 🙂

 

[MIkhail]

Happens to everybody.
Try to find inspiration. Best place for that: museums and albums of PAINTINGS and other mediums, NOT PHOTOGRAPHY. Get inspired, do not copy.
And continue shooting.
Good luck.

 

[David_Manning]

Also, become an observer, not a photographer. Then take the picture.

 

[ferider]

So of five photos on RFF that are most "me" (and incidentally the most popular in terms of comments etc.), NONE of them were taken on an actual photo trip, they were all things that popped up when I was busy living my life. And three were taken with a point and shoot and one with a camera phone.

Have been pondering as I write the above para and I think there's an answer floating around somewhere if I can just grab it 😉.

These are some great photos, Steve, and they should tell you something.

I sympathize with your OP. Then again:

1) some of my best photos, I've taken when forcing myself to go out and shoot, without a specific project or theme in mind. Sometimes limiting the gear has helped.
2) I've often felt that hanging out here and/or in the classifieds doesn't help at all, but worsens "the slump".

Roland.

 

[finguanzo]

Im always in a slump.. I might have a few months out of the year were I think I took pictures Im happy with..
I laugh at myself, my wife does too, that sometimes I will go out on a weekend, spend hours walking miles through NYC with cam at hand, and not trip the shutter once....
I usually dont go out to take pictures, I go for walks, and sometimes happen to take a picture..
I have no issues with that, I know Im not some kind of photography master, I just do it when it comes.. No need to force it, might take the fun away from it..

 

[dct]

[ ... ] but I'm also in a bit of a slump and have been since Xmas.

I still take the odd photo (digital) but my heart's not really in it at the moment ... what to do?

Good question ... good post!

Good thread.
My image count per week is very small since a few months, let alone the keepers, if any. I have no answers too. But its good knowing many others infected with this kind of ... photographic depression 😕

 

[Roger Hicks]

Do the same stuff, but less of it, and fit it in with the rest of your life. Today we went to a vide-grenier (a sort of village-wide swap meet/car boot sale) a few miles away. I shot just two pictures in the series I've been working on, La Religion Recyclée, but I also bought some snow-chains for my wife's car (they're cheap around here at this time of year); some bread for lunch (pigeon terrine) and some mushrooms for dinner (kangaroo), plus a pound or so of glass marbles which make marvellous catapult (slingshot) ammunition. We took the car instead of the motorcycle because it's not very warm yet and it rained, but otherwise we might well have taken the bke. That's quite a few interests addressed at once. If I'd ONLY been looking for pictures, I'd have been disappointed and felt let down.

This is pretty much the exact opposite of Brett's immersive approach, but it's worked OK for me since 1966.

Cheers,

R.

 

[Richard G]

Interesting your comment on your daughter's hair in the hothouse shot. Some of my best shots are when out with my wife, barely allowed to even bring a camera. The pressure is enormous. I must not slow us down. I shoot near home and near work, and lately even at home. Not sure about photo trips at all. There are even people who don't believe in holidays. I improve when I am not working, even if I am not away.

And quitting RFF for a bit as Roland said might be good. And not giving up your day job as I said. I do this because I almost have to, and I don't have the time to do it properly. I am not in your league of course. Life is like that.

 

[gb hill]

Turning things around certainly helped, Murchu and Steveh.

At first I tried to get all daily debris out of my head and write, but stuff kept creeping up on me and by the time I had handled it all and sat down, my head was crammed.

Now, I try to go to bed early and get up early, so the day hasn't started yet and writing is easier.

I can imagine something like that would work for photography as well, but haven't tried since my focus is on writing more now. Just a thought.

Johan I just read this article last night. I've been in a slump & ignoring my own blog. I'm hoping to incorporate writing into my photo's more, though I feel I'm not much of a writer.
http://lpvmagazine.com/2011/05/photographers-should-write-more/

 

[Steveh]

It looks like this thread has struck a chord with quite a few of us - and I'm clearly not alone in this, which is good to know.

Some of this is about how we think of ourselves probably - in my working life I do X, and X is what I have to do, 10-12 hours a day, 5 days a week, 48 weeks a year. It's easy to identify ourselves as a "photographer" (particularly if we have a ton of gear sitting in a cupboard!) and think we have to do photography in our leisure time with the same relentlessness, as if we were pros. But of course we aren't, and we don't.

Perhaps photography, like any other creative activity, has its natural ebb and flow, and we (I) should just relax into that and let the muse come when it will.

Thanks to everyone who's contributed to this thread so far - it's really helped clarify my thinking about this stuff. I even took a few photos today.

 

[Sarcophilus Harrisii]

Do the same stuff, but less of it, and fit it in with the rest of your life. Today we went to a vide-grenier (a sort of village-wide swap meet/car boot sale) a few miles away. I shot just two pictures in the series I've been working on, La Religion Recyclée, but I also bought some snow-chains for my wife's car (they're cheap around here at this time of year); some bread for lunch (pigeon terrine) and some mushrooms for dinner (kangaroo), plus a pound or so of glass marbles which make marvellous catapult (slingshot) ammunition. We took the car instead of the motorcycle because it's not very warm yet and it rained, but otherwise we might well have taken the bke. That's quite a few interests addressed at once. If I'd ONLY been looking for pictures, I'd have been disappointed and felt let down.

This is pretty much the exact opposite of Brett's immersive approach, but it's worked OK for me since 1966.

Cheers,

R.

Yes, I think it's a better way to go, Roger, and something I am trying to adopt myself for essentially the reasons you mention. I quite love the fact that if I want to (and I do) I can continue learning about photography, and to improve on it, for the duration of my life, so I don't want to burn out, however I do have a tendency to do just that. I hope photography will see me out! Combining various interests, as well as (hopefully) making life more interesting will, perhaps, make me a more well-rounded person as well. I have a couple of other things I do on the side. One is rescuing injured native fauna in my local area, something that calls for a lot of input, sadly.

Do the same stuff, but less of it, and fit it in with the rest of your life. Today we went to a vide-grenier (a sort of village-wide swap meet/car boot sale) a few miles away. I shot just two pictures in the series I've been working on, La Religion Recyclée, but I also bought some snow-chains for my wife's car (they're cheap around here at this time of year); some bread for lunch (pigeon terrine) and some mushrooms for dinner (kangaroo), plus a pound or so of glass marbles which make marvellous catapult (slingshot) ammunition. We took the car instead of the motorcycle because it's not very warm yet and it rained, but otherwise we might well have taken the bke. That's quite a few interests addressed at once. If I'd ONLY been looking for pictures, I'd have been disappointed and felt let down.

This is pretty much the exact opposite of Brett's immersive approach, but it's worked OK for me since 1966.
Cheers,

R.

Others have also suggested to Steve that he treat his photography more as an adjunct to daily life than as the main game, during his brief periods of free time, and I think this may be good advice, as it allows the imaging process to happen along the way in its own time, which keeps one's hand in, so to speak, without the pressure of "making photographs".
Cheers,
Brett

 

[Doug]

Interesting comments, and familiar concerns... I've been in a slump since retiring last year. Just the opposite of expectations stated here that the busy life leaves no time or creative energy for photography. And that retirement will bring more opportunities.

Well, maybe. But for me, I'm just not getting out as much, because I don't have to. Before, I'd photograph while running business errands around town, often on foot. I had a series of "people at work" environmental shots, and I'd see other visual possibilities in cutting through the alleys, etc.

I'd echo suggestions here to keep your eyes open on the commute, at lunchtime, and while shopping or running errands. A cell phone might do, but a compact RF or similar isn't usually hard to have at hand.

As for me, I don't know... it would likely do some good to go out and get some exercise with a camera over a shoulder. And take a trip. 🙂

 

[Haigh]

Slumps I certainly have experienced. If it helps, just forget about it and do something not intellectually or physically demanding. I do find using the camera in my android undemanding and fun so I just mess around with that. Hope this helps.

 

[OurManInTangier]

If I'd ONLY been looking for pictures, I'd have been disappointed and felt let down.

This is a rather nice summation of how I now view my personal photography. I've often felt frustrated when out looking for pictures and failing to see clearly. That frustration has built up until its become an almost complete photographic incapacitation.

I tried various and oft-recommended 'RFF recipes' to get back into the swing of things but eventually found that getting on with life was the best remedy. Undertaking a project would focus my mind, allow me to get some interesting images and learn about something new but it is always the break from searching for pictures that is the quickest way for me to get back into the swing of things. I always carry my little X100 around with me for shots of friends, family, days out etc and I quickly realise I'm stopping to photograph the light falling on a windowsill or some drying clothes fluttering about in the breeze. Had I been searching and thinking too hard I either wouldn't have noticed the scene or I'd have decided its a clichéd scene and not even worth the effort of photographing.

You've shared some wonderful imagery in the gallery over the last few years Steve and you will again soon, I have no doubt. In the meantime ignore photography, ignore 'proper cameras' and just enjoy family, friends, days out...life in general. The phone cam and P&S will soon be out capturing shots of holidays, family meals etc from there you'll slip back into it. A weary eye needs closing occasionally.

 

[Steveh]

Thanks Simon - and others - lots of wisdom in many of these posts.

I have my strategy I think - no photo trips, no pressure, just me and the RX100 as a companion to my daily life, and see how it goes.

And ironically I've been doing just that today - so even posting this thread got me thinking about photos again. Watch this space....